A federal lawsuit is accusing Baylor Health Care System of failing to properly monitor or investigate a Plano neurosurgeon – recently barred from practicing in Texas – despite repeated warnings about his “drug problem” and “lack of competence.”

Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano didn’t seek Dr. Christopher Duntsch’s resignation amid months of botched spinal treatments until one of his patients died in March 2012, according to the suit.

Then the hospital gave him a “letter of reference” that allowed him to go on to harm patients at other Dallas facilities, it says.

The malpractice case was brought by Kenneth Fennell of Denton County. He claims Duntsch harmed him and several other patients over a nine-month stretch beginning in July 2011. Among the worst outcomes alleged: a woman who bled to death, and Duntsch’s “lifelong friend and roommate” who was rendered a quadriplegic. Duntsch performed an “unnecessary surgery” on Fennell, 68, operating on the wrong body part, the suit says.

Christopher Daniel Duntsch

The lawsuit portrays Baylor as embracing Duntsch for “the enormous profits it hoped to reap.” The health system recruited him, helped establish his practice at a spine institute with a $600,000 advance and tens of thousands of dollars in perks. Baylor also marketed and promoted his practice to the public, encouraging other doctors to refer patients to him.

Baylor officials deny the “material allegations” and plan to file a response in court, a hospital spokeswoman told me in a written statement.

“The quality of the patient care we provide is of paramount importance to us and we take all patient care-related claims very seriously,” the statement said.